The present invention relates generally to a card connector, and more specifically to a push-push type card connector with improved operational performance.
Conventional electronic devices, such as personal computers, mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital cameras, video cameras, music players, game machines, and vehicle navigation devices use card connectors that use various types of memory cards, such as subscriber identity module (SIM) cards, multi-media cards (MMCs), secure digital (SD) cards, mini SD cards, xD picture cards, memory sticks, memory sticks Duo, smart media, compact or transflash memory cards, and micro SD cards.
From the aspect of easiness of use, many memory card connectors generally employ a push-push structure which enables an operator to insert the memory card by pushing it, as well as pushing the memory card to remove the card from its connector. In a conventional push-push style card connector, a slide member is provided to engage the memory card and the slide member uses a compression spring. However, the slide member engages the memory card throughout the full length of the push and the operator may encounter difficulty in removing the memory card. In view of this problem, there has been proposed a card connector in which a card lock member is movably attached to a slide member, and at the time of ejection of a memory card, the card lock member moves out of the engagement with the memory card, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 2003-6576.
FIG. 5 is a view showing such a conventional card connector where slide member 301 is attached to a side portion of the housing of a card connector. In FIG. 5, the card ejection-insertion slot is located at the bottom of the Figure. Once an engagement projection 303 of the slide member and the card lock member 304 engage the memory card (not shown), the slide member 301 slides (up and down in FIG. 5) while holding the memory card. The slide member 301 is biased by a coil spring 302 toward the direction of ejection of the memory card (downward in FIG. 5). A recess 305 is provided in the upper surface of the slide member 301, and the card lock member 304 is accommodated within this recess. The upper end of the card lock member 304 is pivoted to the slide member 301, so that the card lock member 304 rotates about its upper end.
An engagement portion 304a is formed on the lower end of the card lock member 304 and it projects toward the interior of the housing through an opening 306 that is formed in a wall portion in the left side of the recess 305. Thus, the engagement portion 304a comes into engagement with a concave portion, or notch, on the side surface of the memory card.
The distal end of the engagement portion 304a projects toward the bottom surface of the housing and engages an angled surface 308 that is formed on the side surface of a card guide 307 formed on the bottom surface of the housing. Therefore, when the slide member 301 is moved toward the card ejection direction by means of the coil spring 302 when the memory card is ejected from the housing, the distal end of the engagement portion 304a moves along angled surface 308, and the engagement portion 304a moves away from the side surface of the memory card. As a result, the engagement portion 304a is disengaged with the memory card notch so that engagement of the memory card by the slide member 301 is canceled, and the memory card can be easily removed.
However, this card connector has a complex structure, which increases cost, because the card lock member 304 must be rotatably attached to the upper surface of the slide member 301. Furthermore, the card connector requires a mechanism for moving the engagement portion 304a of the card lock member 304, which makes it more complex, and increases the cost of the connector, as well as the size of the housing.
The present invention is directed to a card connector that has an improved structure and which overcomes the above disadvantages.